High school
by GemEncrustedEarth
Summary: Follow people through several months of high school and see that it isn't always teenage problems
1. Default Chapter

Gem: New story because I'm brain dead on all my other ones. This one is also AU. It technically takes place where I live but there's still magic.

Here's how the schedule works.

Period and Time

1: 7:30-8:23

2: 8:27-9:14

3: 9:18-10:05

Lunch A 10:09-10:47

4: 10:51-11:38

5: 11:42-12:29

6: 12:33-1:20

7: 1:24-2:15

Disclaimer: don't own any FF character that appears in this fic. I do however own myself.

"Hey Gem! Wait up!" yells Garnet.

I stop and look back. Garnet's on of my best friends and a white mage just like me. Though I do envy the fact that her hair reaches her butt. Mine just makes it down to the middle of my back. We're the same age and have had countless people mistake us for sisters. Probably because of the hair color and our soft brown eyes.

"So what's up?" I ask as she catches up.

"Didn't ya hear? Zidane wants me as his girlfriend!"

"Yer kiddin' aren't ya? I can't believe my cousin asked you out. He always seemed to act like he was better than you."

The bus came and we got on and sat in the back. Since we were juniors and currently the oldest people on the bus, not counting the driver, we could pull rank like that. None of us actually cared about the whole pulling rank thing though.

"You gonna sleep again this mornin'?" asked Rikku.

Rikku was always peppy and I have no idea how she does it especially at seven in the morning. Her long blond hair is always pulled into a messy ponytail that somehow looks good on her. Not that I swing that way of course. Her hair also makes her bright green eyes seem even brighter.

"A'course I am. Now let me sleep."

I close my eyes and listen to the quiet chatter of my friends. Yuna and Tidus had hooked up over the weekend. Rikku had mutually broken up with her boyfriend, and they were still friends. Yuna is Rikku's cousin, and they're almost best friends with each other. It's sometimes scary how close they are. But then again, I'm in no place to talk because I'm close to my own cousin.

Yuna definitely has the shortest hair out of all the girls because it barely reaches her chin but it's really soft. I've done her hair a few times when she needed it back. The best part that we all love is her two different colored eyes. A pretty green eye like Rikku's and a startling blue one. Like me and Garnet, Yuna's also a white mage. It comes in handy sometimes.

Tidus is Yuna's girlfriend and an awesome friend of mine. He's well built and has the prettiest blue eyes I've ever seen. Add to that very messy blond hair and he looks amazing. I know at least one girl who's jealous of Yuna. But we can't help our group and their mentality.

I wake up enough to look at Lulu. Lulu is an interesting person and also happens to have the most rational head on her shoulders. We have no clue how long her hair actually is because we've never seen it down. She normally holds it up with two chopsticks and that's it. I know that she's managed to creep quite a few people out with her patented red-eyed glare. I also know that she's hiding one of her magic dolls up her skirt. I don't think I've ever seen her wear pants except in Gym. Did I forget to mention that she's a black mage? But back to me harassing her about Wakka.

"Hey, what's goin' on with you and Wakka? He was starin' at yer rear the other day."

Wakka hangs out with us sometimes, mainly when our boyfriends aren't around. We make him feel awkward since he's currently single but I'm fairly sure that he has a giant crush on Lulu. One of these days I'll try to get it out of him. I also have yet to figure out how he gets his fiery-red hair to stand straight up with no gel whatsoever. Yuna and I petted it one day just to find out. Oh, I forgot to mention that Yuna, Rikku, Tidus, Wakka and Lulu are in my grade too.

Wakka was waiting for us as we got off the bus. He had a car and his license already so he could drive to school.

"Did ya all see there's two new kids here? Think they'll appreciate someone to show them around, ya?"

"Most like. Marcus!" I squeal and run to give him a hug.

"How long have they been going out?" asks Yuna, then, "Tidus!"

Wakka looks strangely uncomfortable but we drag him with us to our lockers. I notice Lulu looking at Wakka and poke Marcus to see if he notices. He does and then grabs my books for me. That's the main reason I love him. He's a modern day gentleman. Heck, he even opens doors for people who could be his grandmother.

"Um…excuse us but could you lease tell us where locker 2069 is?" asks a young blue-haired blue-eyed girl. Standing next to her is a red-haired boy with red eyes. Given the placement of their lockers, I'd guess that they're juniors.

"It's right here," I say pointing at the locker next to mine. Then I notice Marcus and the new boy staring at each other.

"Blank…?"

"Marcus…?"

"What the hell is goin' on?" I ask and then receive a weird look from Yuna. "What? I normally say hell."

Marcus has finally come out of his trance and turns to us.

"Blank, when did you come here? I haven't seen you in around five or six years."

"Mum decided to move here and regrets not being able to keep you in California all those years ago."

"Marcus, you never told me you had a brother," I say sweetly as I snuggle up against him.

"I'll tell you tonight, 'kay?" he replies.

I respond by snuggling closer.

The bell rings and we all head off. We learn that the girl's name is Ruby and she comes with all of us to Database/PowerPoint. All the guys have Gym so they walk us down to the middle hallway downstairs.

Maybe I should explain who all is in our group. There's me of course, my boyfriend, Marcus, my cousin, Zidane, his girlfriend and my best friend, Garnet, Zid and Marcus's friends consisting of Cinna, Wakka, and Tidus, and my friends consisting of Lulu, Rikku, and Yuna. Yuna and Tidus are going out and something is developing between Wakka and Lulu. Today we added Ruby and Blank into our group and they seem quite happy with that.

You probably have no idea what my cousin and the rest of my friends look like. Well, let's start with Zidane. He's almost exactly like Marcus in personality. We're very close and have been since we were born even though he's a year older than me. Like Tidus, he has messy blond hair that never stays put and bright blue eyes. He also has a monkey tail and I still have no idea where he got one. The rest of our family doesn't.

Marcus is next. He's my boyfriend and like I said before, very sweet. He can pull off the long haired look very well. I like his hair because it's also soft. He's a year older and I met him through my cousin. Marcus is a bit bigger guy but is a giant teddy bear underneath. He's also like a brother to Zidane.

Cinna and Zidane go way back. They drifted apart for a bit but now that they're in high school, they're really good friends. I think the year difference affected them in middle school which made them drift apart. For some odd reason, Cinna likes to shave his head but it also brings out just how dark his eyes really are. I'm hoping to goodness that he never gets a concussion. You can't tell where his irises end and pupils begin.

"Do what you've been doing every day," says our teacher, Miss Kattana.

"Which is…?" Ruby asks.

No one answers that and Lulu pulls her to the front of the class.

"Miss Kattana, Ruby's new here," says Lulu.

She leaves Ruby there and comes back to our area. We spend the class working on our projects until the bell rings. We then all separate for our next class, math. Lulu, Yuna, Zidane, Garnet, and I are all in AP Calc AB. The rest go to Trig/PreCalc. (a/n AP is advanced placement. Calc is calculus, AP Calc AB is year one of college Calculus, Trig/PreCalc is trigonometry and pre-calculus))

"Dang, forgot we had a test," says Zidane.

All us girls sigh and grin. The girls had studied, but I was nervous.

(Between 2nd and 3rd period)

"How'd you think you did?" asks Garnet as we walk back downstairs. (a/n How'd is how do. Yes, I talk weird. I'm quite aware of it)

"I'm not gonna talk about it," I say. "I might jinx myself."

"I could do that for you."

"No thanks Lu. I don't wanna have some other mage I don't know revivin' me."

Marcus and I are the band dorks of the bunch. He and I are low brass people except that's where we differ. I'm a baritone horn or euphonium player. I go by whatever the music says. Marcus plays a trombone. Though somehow the baritones managed to get kicked out of the low brass. That still makes me wonder what exactly they did.

We didn't talk at band camp but ended up sitting next to each other in class. One day he worked up enough courage to talk to me and did so after class.

_Flashback_

"_Hey. You seem upset. Wanna talk about it?"_

"_Close but no cookie," I tell him. "Annoyed. Very annoyed. At guess who? Mike."_

_He laughs some and tells me not to worry._

"_Can I ask you something while we're back here?"_

_Here is where I store my instrument. Basically, we're in a practice room behind our director's office._

"_Shoot," I say._

"_Well, I…uh…really like you even though I haven't really talked to you recently."_

_I grin and hug him. He seems surprised and then relaxes. It's the end of class so I can do that._

_End Flashback _

Soon after that we started to go out. We kept it quiet so very few people knew. Most they knew was that we were good friends except for Zidane because he and I are so close.

We grab our stuff and then start talking about the limo plans.

"Who's in charge of it now?"

"I think Athene is. I got too busy so I handed it back to her."

Athene is another good friend of mine. She's in my grade and some mornings I hang with her.

We shut up as Uncle Nicky comes in. He's our director and hasn't been real pleased with us recently. We don't call him that to his face though. Thankfully, almost everyone behaves and class goes smoothly. The bell rings, and we rejoin our group.

"Is Uncle Nicky still mad?" asks Zidane with a big grin as we stop at the senior lockers.

"Nope. Actually he wants to know what we're eatin' for breakfast," I say with a small laugh.

We then head on to the junior lockers. We can spend a while doing this since for us, it's lunch time and our table is saved.

"Hey Gem."

"Hi John," I say as I high five him. I think he likes me but I already have Marcus.

"He's a nice kid. Why don't you talk to him more?" asks Rikku.

"I agree with you but he's also a jock," I reply. "C'mon. Let's move. We'll finish this conversation at lunch."

My lunch table is very enjoyable especially with the crazy but lovable band people at the next table. (a/n band people are nuts! Trust me. I'm one of them)

I sit close to the exit and allow my left arm elbowroom. Marcus is on my right, then Garnet and then Zidane. Across from me is Nicole, yet another friend of mine. She's also extremely shy and I've spent the last three years trying to get her to open up more. She does have an amazing wit though. To her left sits Yuna, then Tidus, then Wakka and Lulu, and Rikku's on the end with her ex-boyfriend, Eric, across from her. Ruby sits down next to Rikku and Blank next to Eric. We switch seats once we finish our lunches. Our books are set next to Ruby and Blank so that we can easily talk during lunch. Cinna won't join our group again until Euro because he has the second lunch. (a/n AP European History. It's a junior only class)

"Who all's going in the limo?" asks Yuna. Our limo plans have been going since around February or March.

"There's me and Marcus, you and Tidus, Wakka and Lulu, and Rikku and Eric in one. Athene and Tim, Constance and Logan, and Katherine in another. Our little mornin' group will meet over at my place at four and then it's over to Constance's for the limos," I reply.

"Can we join your group?" asks Ruby.

"I'll talk to Athene but it shouldn't be a problem."

Lunch continues and then onto figuring out bizarre Physics homework. We all normally finish lunch in less than a half hour so that left us about fifteen minutes for homework. The bell rings and all of us except for Nicole head to Physics.

We get the answers to the homework and realize that half of it makes no sense. The time passes quickly and we figure out where we went wrong.

The juniors won't see the seniors until seventh because our next two classes are for juniors only. Cinna meets up with us at our lockers and waits as we grab our stuff.

"What's the teacher like?" asks Blank.

"The bigger question is, is she there?"

"Yeah, she is. Or are you blind to the world because yer desperately in love with my companion here?" I ask as I throw an arm around Yuna's shoulders and grin evilly at Tidus. Yuna's giggling and I can hear more behind me.

""Hey!" he yells only to get interrupted by Wakka.

"…Is for horses." (a/n Those lines are stolen from a friend)

We all laugh and grab our books. The class is small enough to allow for a classroom and a home set of books. The AP exam is soon or rather sooner than we think so we've been moving through the book. We discuss the homework questions thoroughly so it takes the whole period.

Next class is English. Tidus and I drag Ruby and Blank to the front of the class and introduce them to Ms. Mario. We know that she's going to get married soon and it seems like all the girls are excited for her.

We learned that we had to write a dumb ballad on Huck Finn and it was due the next Friday. I managed to write mine and sadly, it's the best piece of poetry I've ever written. (a/n yes, it does stink!)

Might as well show you it.

Huck was very keen

And he did not want to be seen

So he paddled over to a town

In a woman's gown

Huck walked a lonely path

Not wishing for a bath

All he wanted was some tidings

And then he would do his biddings

Huck met a kind dame

Who's arm was lame

He could swing a bat

And proved he could hit a rat

Now his cover was blown

And he wished he could've flown

Out of harm's way

And into the bay

The woman proved kind

And offered to help him out of his bind

She gave him some tips on how to be a girl child

So that he wouldn't appear so wild

Bring the thread to the needle

And scream when you see a beetle

You'll fool almost everyone

And have a lot of fun

Miss the rat

And prove that you can't bat

Everything will be fine

And no one will whine

This is all she said

And it stuck in his head

He also learned that he'd become bait

And was about to learn his fate

People had spotted his fire

And he was a know liar

He headed towards home

And then jumped in the river foam

Huck paddled away from the town

And tossed off the gown

He doused the fire

And is remembered as a liar.

That was a bad poem and we all laughed as we read each other's start in Study Hall. As usual, a dumb underclassman was trying to flirt with me. I have a boyfriend for Pete's sake! I watched Marcus get up, look the kid in the eye, and tell him to shut up. My group went into a fit of laughter and the kid got so mad.

"He's red as a lobster!" gasped Yuna.

"Redder!" yelled Tidus.

"He's a hot pressure valve!"

That was Rikku's statement, which didn't help my fit of laughter.

Lulu and Wakka looked calm but both were shaking with silent laughter. The rest of our group except for Ruby, Marcus, and Blank had run down to the bathrooms since they were laughing that hard.

"Is this typical?" asked Ruby.

"Oh, hell. This i'n't half of it," I said. (a/n i'n't means isn't)

"Half the time we go to the library because it's calmer there. But this is still funny. Marcus, you'd make a good bodyguard," said Rikku.

"Hey! Quit flirtin' with my boyfriend!"

"I agree," added Lulu.

"Me too!"

"Quit stealin' my boyfriend!" I yelled at Rikku, Lulu, and Yuna.

The other side of the classroom was now staring at us like we were nuts. I heard a quiet 'No wonder they avoid us' from someone on the other side of the room. This random argument lasted all the way home and even the people on the bus were staring at us.

Everyone had come over to my house to try and do Euro homework and then all the girls were going shopping. Our Euro homework was finished in record time and we drove up to the Mall. (a/n I'm not kidding. That's what the local mall is called)

For the heck of it, we tried on prom dresses and laughed when stuff fit funny. We ran into the guys who wouldn't tell us what they were up to. But all the girls knew that the guys had gone suit shopping.

"Time to go," said Lulu at eight.

"Yeah. Probably a good idea," Yuna replied. "We're staying over at Gem's place tomorrow, right?"

"Yup. Don't forget movies and sleeping bags."

"What are we doing with the sleeping bags?" comes Zidane's voice over my phone. We'd called him to tell him our plan and to have him let the boys know about it.

"Yer dumb," I told him. "Remember when we were little and we'd unzip several sleeping bags and make a bed and blankets with them?"

"Oops."

I grin and the girls start laughing as we walk out of the mall. Tomorrow will be another day.

Gem: I've worked all day on this. There may be a long period of no update.

Yuna: Please R and R.


	2. Chapter 2

Gem: Like I said before, I'm editing the entire thing.

Rikku: Here's something you might need to know. The school has a junior prom. Not junior/senior or senior prom. The seniors have their own dance called the senior semi. There are early dismissals on the day of the prom if we want them.

Gem: This'll come up later but I don't feel like describing it then. There's something called the Promenade. Basically, parents set up a themed stage and my junior year there were portrait frames. You walked onto stage and stood in a frame and then when the couple in the silhouette frame was called, you went and stood in the silhouette until your name was called and when it was, you walked through a frame in the center of the stage.

Rikku: MY DISCLAIMER! Gem owns jack squat in this fic and if you don't know what jack squat is, then ask!

The prom wasn't for another week but of course we had to figure out all our limo and day-after-prom plans. We were sitting in my basement on top of maybe twelve or thirteen sleeping bags with paper and cards strewn about us. Lulu had stuck two pencils through her hair to keep it up for the moment and poor Yuna was on the floor laughing at our mess.

"Yuna…"

"Yes, Lu?"

"I'd suggest you quit it."

"Sorry."

"Back to the task at hand. How's this day going to work again?"

"Early dismissals for all of us are at noon. Guys get to go sleep while the girls get their hair done at 12:30. We meet here at 3:30 for pictures. Then we head over to Constance's at 4. The limos will pick us up there," I supplied as Lulu wrote everything down.

We were going to need those sheets and we had already filled out the early dismissal forms. All we needed was for our parents to sign them.

"Who wants to play another round of Peanuts?" asked Zidane as he sat down on his knees.

"I have no idea how any of you hold that position for so long. It makes my knee fall dead."

"Gem, unlike you, we didn't trip up any stairs."

I groan and pull my legs in so I'm sitting Indian style on the sleeping bags.

"Not my fault the stairs don't like me."

This time it was Lulu who giggled. It was such an unexpected reaction that everyone stared before starting to laugh along with her. Lulu rarely giggled and for us it was bound to be funny.

"Do you kids need anything?" called my mom.

"We're fine Mum!" I yelled back up the stairs.

My mum always liked to make sure that we had enough to eat. Currently we had three empty ice cream containers and a giant bowl of popcorn. The bowl was mostly full since we'd just finished the ice cream. I watched as Tidus laid back and put his head in Yuna's lap.

"No Peanuts. How about a movie?"

"Like what?" Yuna asked as she played with his hair.

"Lord of the Rings?"

"Sounds good," everyone else replied in some form.

Zidane leapt up the basement stairs and headed into my room. That's where my DVDs were and thankfully I had put them on the bed. He really didn't need to see into my closet. A few minutes later he came back downstairs with all three DVDs in his hands.

A week later we were all excited for the prom. I couldn't wait to stay up all night during After-Prom.

"I can't wait!" squealed Rikku.

"Neither can I. I slept all night last night, took a nap on my bed this morning once I finished getting ready for school, and then took a nap in the hall," I said. "Think I slept enough?" (a/n I actually did that)

The group of girls around me laughed. The past week had flown and the guys were refusing to talk to us today. They said a little bit at lunch but not in our other classes. All the girls left at noon to get their hair done at a small local salon.

Rikku got her hair pulled up in a bun made of twisted strands of hair. Yuna's hair was curled and pulled into a big curly bun with a French twist on the bottom. Lulu got hers waved and pulled into a bun, held in place by silvery chopsticks. Ruby and Athene had loosely curled hair while mine and Garnet's was tightly curled and we all had our hair half up.

All the girls had arrived early at my house. We all changed in mine and my brother's rooms with the help of our mothers and looked really different. It was a rarity for us to get all dressed up.

Lulu wore a black strapless floor-length dress. At her waist, it split showing an under-layer and around this split were silver bugle beads. She also had silver earrings that hung to her chin and long black gloves. She wore black sandals with a low heel.

Rikku wore a sky blue Barbie dress that showed just enough cleavage with long sky blue earrings and a necklace with a sapphire pendent. She also had stiletto sky-colored sandals. (a/n Barbie dresses are poofy.)

Yuna wore a spaghetti strap dress that started out red up by her shoulders and faded to white by her ankles. The back of the dress was laced up like a corset. She wore a ruby necklace and ruby earrings. She also had a silver tiara and white sandals with a bit higher heel than Lulu's.

Ruby had a rose colored Barbie dress with rose colored earrings that hung about halfway to her chin. Her necklace was tiny roses and hugged her neck. Ruby's sandals were also rose colored and had a very low heel.

Garnet's dress was similar to Yuna's except it was blue fading to white. She had elbow-length gloves with the same pattern as her dress. Her dress also laced up the back like a corset. She wore blue earrings and a blue choker necklace. Garnet's sandals had a really skinny and low heel.

I had a long black slinky dress. It had spaghetti straps and a low back. In the front, rights below the straps were silver bugle beads. In the back, the bugle beads followed the line of the back, meeting a bit above my buttocks. The two lines of beads joined and continued together until about my knees when the line split and outlined a sheer black panel that was noticeable only when I moved. I also wore long black gloves, dark silver earrings, and black sandals.

"Girls, let's go take pictures," said my mom. When it came to this kind of stuff, she could be a real paparazzi. (a/n someone who takes a ton of pictures.)

We walked out of my room, down the hall, and into the living room. All of our parents were waiting there, armed with cameras.

"Oh my! Look at my little girl!"

"I've been imagining this for years and it's come true!"

"You're embarrassing me!" we all yelled.

Then there came a slew of pictures. We each had one by ourselves, then a group, then a few smaller ones like Yuna and Rikku and Garnet and me. (a/n cousins and best friends) The guys arrived around fifteen minutes later, and they looked stunning.

Wakka and Marcus were in white tuxes with silver vests. Eric wore black as did Blank. Tidus wore a red tux that went with Yuna's dress and Zidane's blue tux matched Garnet's dress.

The parents oohed and awwed some more and another fifty million pictures were taken. Then we were able to go over to Constance's house. Once there, the parents took MORE pictures.

"I'm gonna be blind before we even get to the Promenade," Marcus whispered to me.

We all cracked up but we were getting bored with the pictures. Soon enough Katherine came and so did the limos. It was time for even more pictures. Then we were off to the school for Promenade.

We were somewhat late due to a screw-up with our limo plans and ended up towards the back.

"I blame it on…Pictures!" said Rikku as she punched the air.

"And parents! How else would've the pictures gotten taken?" asked Yuna.

Our group continued to giggle harder. We were already giddy and no one had had any caffeine. The sad part was that we could get giddier.

We got announced and stopped real fast to have our picture taken. Then we walked down the steps and back out to our limos.

Lulu slid in first followed by Wakka, me, and then Marcus. Tidus held Yuna's stuff and waited while she got in. Tidus and Eric slipped in after her and finally Rikku got in. Rikku had to get in last due to her dress. We gave the limo driver directions to the hotel and off we went. On the way, we each drank a can of pop. Once there, we checked in and set our stuff down at our table.

Finally and after about an hour of mingling, it was time for dinner and it seemed as if our table was last to be served. First course was a salad followed by what we'd preordered for dinner. Marcus, Lulu, Wakka, Tidus, Yuna, and I had chicken while Eric and Rikku had beef. It was followed up by us getting to choose our own desserts. (a/n the others didn't fit at the table)

Soon the DJ started to play some good songs and we got up and danced. All the girls took off their shoes first and just went barefoot. We had brought sandals to change into but didn't want to take them out. The dance floor was too small to hold all the people who came to prom so there were people dancing between the tables.

Marcus had wandered outside the ballroom to talk to a few people while all the girls had gone to the bathroom. We came back looking for our dates during a slow song and one of Marcus's buddies pushed him into the room.

"Your girlfriend's looking for you," he said.

Marcus looked around and spotted me. He came over and wrapped one hand around my waist. We went on the dance floor, and I snuggled close to him. All the others had done the same except for Athene and Tim. They decided to bump into Marcus and me, and we did it back to them. (a/n don't ask. I'm weird like that) Another slow song followed and then several fast dances. I had rarely danced like that before.

It was close to midnight when they announced the prom court and the prom king and queen. No one in our group was on the court. But then the DJ had the new prom king and queen start to dance to the class song "Could not ask for more" and invited everyone up to dance. Our group went up and started to dance again. It felt really good. I was in love. (a/n I'm sorry but I don't know who sings Could Not Ask For More)

At midnight, all the teachers went home and the parents came. Some kids also left if they hadn't paid for After-Prom. The parents opened up another room that was made into a Monte Carlo room (a/n casino type games). There were quite a few blackjack tables, a craps table, and a few other types of card games. The girls and guys split up to play games and such and occasionally went back in for a dance or two.

At three in the morning, a hypnotist came and hypnotized about twenty people. It was so funny to watch all the people do stuff you normally wouldn't see them do. Tidus, Yuna, Wakka, and Rikku managed to get hypnotized and Lulu, Garnet, and I took pictures of them doing ballet and singing and doing other embarrassing stuff.

"I'm hoping you all didn't take pictures of us," said Tidus after the hypnotist left.

Lulu fixed him with her cold stare and Garnet and I gave them an evil smirk. It was so much fun to have embarrassing pictures of them for the yearbook. Then they announce the winners of the Chinese Auction. Unfortunately, none of us won.

"I love coffee. And the fact that it's Starbucks coffee (a/n not mine!)," said Marcus. Cinna had also followed us out to get some coffee and doughnuts. We walked back into the room and sat down at our table. Soon we were allowed to go and we packed up our stuff and left.

"Didn't the limo driver say that he would meet us up here?" asked Katherine after almost everyone had left except for a few parents.

"He did," I said. "Maybe he's around back?"

"I'll go check," said Marcus and he left.

Katherine and Constance sat down on one of the couches out front and Athene sat down in a chair. The rest of us were keeping ourselves awake by standing up. Soon Marcus came back.

"I talked to some guy down there and he said that he didn't recognize me."

"Fine. I'll go down," said Logan.

He came back up fairly quickly and told us that the limos were down there. So we gathered up all our stuff and went downstairs. Then we each piled into our limos and focused on staying awake. We also realized how screwed up thoughts become after no sleep.

"The bobble-head's racist," said Marcus. "Do they have something against mixed couples?"

The bobble-heads were the gift to all the guys at Prom. The girls got photo albums that could also be used as picture frames.

Marcus's though was definitely messed up because we all started laughing and finding ways to make the bobble-head not be racist. This conversation lasted all the way back to Constance's house. Your thoughts are really messed up sometimes after no sleep.

Yuna, Tidus, Rikku, Eric, Wakka, Lulu, Ruby, Blank, Zidane, Garnet, Cinna, and Marcus all came over to my house in the morning. The plan was to sleep until noon and then go somewhere, hopefully the park. The second part of the plan was probably going to change because it was raining.

All the girls flopped in my brother's room and all the guys in my room. We had to blow up 11 airbeds. Thankfully, everyone but Zidane had brought one. Zidane had come over for all night study sessions for Calc before and he would sleep in mine or my brother's bed or on the fold away bed.

In the boy's room, Zidane had the bed because he didn't mind sleeping underneath girlie covers. (a/n he's not gay!) Tidus, Eric, Wakka, Blank, Cinna, and Marcus blew up the beds and squeezed them around my bed. Their bathroom trips would be interesting.

In the girl's room, I took the bed because no one else liked hard beds and I could somewhat stand it. Yuna, Rikku, Lulu, Ruby, and Garnet blew up their beds and squeezed them around my brother's bed. Our bathroom trips would be interesting but not as interesting as the boys' would. By six we were all fast asleep for a six hour sleep. We all woke up at noon and took showers or baths two at a time. (a/n two bathrooms. One person in each bathroom) Soon, we were all ready.

Yuna and Rikku wore cute little t-shirts with Pitt written across them and hip-hugger blue jeans. Rikku was busy pulling her hair up into her normal ponytail while Yuna pulled hers back into two French braids without waiting for it to dry. Lulu wore a black Green Day t-shirt and blue jeans and had her hair pulled into a braid and wrapped into a bun. Garnet and I wore cute little t-shirts with Westminster College written across them and hip-hugger blue jeans. Zidane and Marcus had gotten us the shirts when they went looking at colleges. Ruby wore a red Aeropastel shirt with a monkey on it and blue jeans. The three of us wore our hair in braids. We were going out somewhere but the guys wouldn't tell us where. They only told us that we had a room to ourselves.

"So much for going to the park," said Yuna.

"Yeah," agreed Rikku. "I really wanted to go. I'm mad that it rained."

"Well, at least the boys are taking us out," added Lulu.

"But Cinna doesn't have a partner," I said.

"Actually, his 'girlfriend' and everyone else that was supposed to come is going wherever we're going," corrected Garnet.

"I wanna know where they're takin' us!"

My sudden sugar rush set off sugar rushes in the other girls. We loved doing group dates because no one got left out. Besides the boys had obviously thought ahead when they planed this day.

The boys were also getting changed and to surprise my parents we were going to walk into the kitchen by twos. Cinna had gone ahead to announce us.

Marcus and Zidane oddly enough matched us with their own Westminster shirts. Tidus wore a shirt with the Pittsburgh skyline on the back and the front was blank. Eric and Wakka had on tight white muscle shirts with stylishly ripped jackets over top. They had done their own jackets which all the girls liked. Cinna, like Lulu, was also wearing a Green Day t-shirt. Blank had on a New Found Glory t-shirt and was wearing a bandana to hold his hair back.

Over the monitor we heard Cinna call us to come to the kitchen. Blank and Ruby went first followed by Lulu and Wakka. Rikku and Eric were next in our line and then Yuna and Tidus. Garnet and Zidane were in front of me and Marcus. As we went in Cinna started making it sound like a fashion show. (a/n I just couldn't resist)

"…And here is Lulu and Wakka. Lulu is wearing the latest Green Day shirt with a pair of just tight enough blue jeans while Wakka's outfit complements Lulu's. He has stylishly ripped his jacket and they look like they'd enjoy a good concert…"

My parents started laughing and enjoyed our show. My mum quickly got us to sit down at the table in the dining room to eat some lunch. She had made us all some breakfast food and quite a few sandwiches. We normally would have eaten in the kitchen but there were too many people. Everyone dug in and enjoyed all the food that was made. After brunch, we piled into two vans to head to wherever the boys were taking us.

In one van, Zidane drove with Garnet in the passenger seat. Yuna and Tidus claimed the seats all the way in the back while Cinna, Ruby, and Blank shared the middle row. In the other van, Marcus drove while I lay claim to the passenger seat. Lulu and Rikku had a "rock, paper, scissors" fight to see who got the spot all the way in the back. Lulu won so her and Wakka crawled in the back. Rikku and Eric then sat in the middle row. Marcus followed Zidane to wherever we were headed.

Gem: So where are they going?

Rikku: R and R or I will come after you!


	3. Chapter 3

Tim: You are awesome. You know that? You don't care when I send you links to my stories and you review them too! Yay!

Gem: Still editing and bored so I kept writing and editing.

Lulu: Gem owns nothing except the clothes.

Gem: All Al Bhed translations are after each conversation in Al Bhed.

The boys surprised us by taking us to Southpark Clubhouse. We were all into gaming and arcades so this was the perfect place on a rainy day.

"Hey look! We could win a PS2!" I exclaimed.

"Well, who would keep it?" asked Rikku.

"Tidus, Zidane, Cinna, and Garnet already have their own," said Yuna. "And my dad promised to buy me one soon."

"Pops said that if you get one Yunie, then we'd have to share."

"Lulu and I are getting our own on our birthdays," added Wakka.

"We already have one," said Blank.

"Looks like it's going to you, girlie," said Marcus.

"All right, is it fine with everyone if I get the PS2?" I asked and they nodded. "We'll all get enough tickets and then once we have the PS2, we'll set up gaming nights."

"Sounds good to me," everyone chorused in one form or another.

Rikku, Lulu, Garnet, and I started playing ski ball; Tidus and Zidane were playing a ski jump game and winning lots of tickets; Ruby and Blank were knocking over ducks (a/n a very fun game); and Marcus, Cinna, Cinna's girlfriend Jamie, Wakka, Eric, and Yuna were taking turns playing the stomp the spider game.

Yuna was currently doing awesome. She had put it on hard and would use both her hands and her feet. People started to stop to watch her. One guy was even bold enough to ask her out. She told him that she was already taken and pretended to flirt with Marcus.

Tidus looked halfway amused and caught me watching. So we started flirting. Soon everyone else caught on and began flirting with someone other than their boyfriend or girlfriend. It was great fun but soon we were back to our games. After another hour, Jamie left and we went to our reserved room and ate. She said that she had work in about an hour which was understandable. The conversation turned to how we knew each other.

Zidane and I were cousins and had been practically inseparable when we were little. Garnet was in my math class freshman year and had been excited to learn about another white mage. Marcus was in band with me and had originally met Zidane over the Internet before coming here. Cinna had been Zidane's friend for a long time. Tidus, Wakka, and Lulu had moved here in seventh grade, which was when I met them. Yuna and Rikku had also moved here but two years later at the start of high school. (a/n high school is from 9th to 12th grade)

Yuna looked slightly pained as she said that she wanted to say how she came here. All of us except for Blank and Ruby knew the story. Tidus sat down next to her and held her as she started to talk about her life before she came here.

_Flashback through Yuna's eyes_

_Rikku and I lived together with our dads so that we might have a better income. It also helped keep our costs down. I had several friends including Rikku but one of them was a really good guy friend who became very possessive of me when we were in middle school. If I flirted with another guy, talked to other guys even those inside our group, or even tried to go out with other guys, he'd want to know what was wrong with him. He always wanted to know why he wasn't good enough for me. I didn't like him the same way he liked me but he never got that concept. I thought I had made it blatantly clear._

_I found Tidus's role-playing board at the end of seventh grade since I loved to RP, and Tidus, Gem, and Zidane started talking to me. They had been the first to guess that something was wrong even though I hadn't yet explained the situation to them. My father was very worried for my safety online but Tidus and a few of his friends decided to do a video talk with me with my father in the room. Tidus's own father was also in the room with them though I didn't learn that until later._

_I had explained the situation to them once already online after they somehow guessed that something was wrong. During the first video talk one of the two girls looked completely outraged at how I was being treated. She went on a rant about how my friend should appreciate his friends more. The person I assumed was Tidus had turned around and looked at her saying, 'Gem, calm down some. If that guy comes here, take out your rage on him.'_

_I hadn't realized that Gem was actually someone's name before then. I thought that it was the name she was using online. In the other girl's eyes, I could see a small burning fire but she didn't say anything and neither did the other two boys who were standing behind Tidus. They were obviously worried about my safety from my friend. I had also felt my father leave the room shortly after starting the video talk. After I signed off, I went looking for him to see what was wrong._

"_Father? Why did you leave?"_

"_Yuna, years ago I lost contact with one of my high school and college friends. His name was Jecht. I knew that Jecht had a son but I never learned the son's name. Your friend…the one leading the video talk…looks a lot like Jecht, and I suspect that he is Jecht's son. If I could get in contact with him again, we could leave here."_

"_Father…"_

"_Yuna, zicd mayja ajanodrehk du sa yht ouin ihlma. Fa femm mayja cuuh." (a/n translation: "just leave everything to me and your uncle. We will leave soon.")_

_My father wrapped me in a hug and soon the rest of my family joined it. We knew that we had to leave and leave soon. Apparently Jecht saw my father and started to put some plans together, only telling his son bits and pieces of information. Rikku did the video talk with me this time because she wanted to see these people herself. She had joined the board as extra protection in case these people weren't really as they seemed._

"_Yunie, ed'mm ymm pa veha. Uin vysemo femm gab res uie."_

"_Rikku, E ghuf. E-E's clynat. Fryd ev ra tuac lusa ib rana?"_

"_Ed femm pa veha. Tuh'd funno. Bubc, Pnudran, yht Ihlma Pnycgy femm pa fyedehk vun res yht oui ghuf dryd ymm uv dras ghuf ruf du vekrd."_

"_What are you saying?"_

"_Cunno!" we both said._

_(a/n translation: "Yunie, it'll all be fine. Our family will keep him out." "Rikku, I know. I-I'm scared. What if he does come up here?" "It will be fine. Don't worry. Pops, Brother, and Uncle Braska will be waiting for him and you know that all of them know how to fight." "Sorry!")_

_The second video talk started and they were able to meet my cousin. My guy friend had kept calling my house all that evening and my father, Uncle Cid, and Brother were all worried that he was going to come over. They would try to keep him from coming upstairs to the computer room if he did come. It was the same people as before and this time they were going to come to help if I could give them enough information to find me. Tidus said that his father was making plans for us to move to his area. I had heard voices downstairs and thought they belonged to my family. Suddenly I clearly heard a voice that wasn't one of my family members. I could hear him trying to get to the computer room and the rest of my family trying to stop him._

"_Aab! Cdyo rana. E's kuehk du ku ramb," said Rikku. (a/n translation: Eep! Stay here. I'm going to go help)_

"_I've got to go. I don't want him to find out about our plans," I said and terminated the conversation._

_Tidus sent me an e-mail later that night saying that they were coming to help because Tidus's dad had just bought a small nice house to rent out and said that he wanted to give it to my family and me as a present._

_True to their word, Tidus and his friends came less than a week later. I met everyone who I'd seen in the video talk. Lulu, Gem, Marcus, and Zidane. Tidus said that the rest were waiting for Rikku and me and were in the process of getting all the furniture that we would need. My father had seen to selling the house so we were ready to go._

_We had started to pack our belongings and my new friends were helping us finish up. Just then he arrived._ (a/n have you guessed who this is yet?)

_"Why, my dear Yuna, you didn't tell me you were moving. Where to? And who are these guys?" he asked, spotting Tidus, Marcus, and Zidane._

_"Shut up Seymour," I said. "Where I'm going is none of your business. Vydran, fa haat du rinno ib. Bmayca damm ajanouha amca dryd fa'ja kud y bnupmas." (a/n translation: Father, we need to hurry up. Please tell everyone else that we've got a problem.)_

_"Wow yer ugly. Yer hairstyle went outta style millions a years ago."_

_I saw Seymour's grimace and turning caught Gem smirking. She did tell the truth about infuriating people._

_"Why you little…"_

_Seymour jumped towards her and was immediately put in a headlock._

"_Touch my girl or any other of my friends and I snap your neck. Understand?" asked Marcus._

_Seymour nodded and Marcus let him go. I learned later that Marcus wasn't really going to kill Seymour. A day later, they were helping Rikku and me to unpack but the rest of the gang was there. I also learned that they were one big group of friends. Garnet, Wakka, and Cinna turned out to be really nice and patient with our misunderstandings._

_I found that all the guys were protective but in a good way. They'd threaten anyone who tried to harm their girl friends even if they didn't mean it. They just didn't want something to happen to their friends._

_I'm so happy that I got to meet them._

_End Flashback_

"I feel sorry for you, hun," said Ruby.

"I'm glad that I met Tidus and that all his friends were so understanding. What would I have done without you?" said Yuna.

I shuddered because it was too hard to think about it. It was hard enough just to hear the story again.

Gem: This chapter's kinda short and I apologize for it.

Yuna: Don't forget to R and R!


	4. Chapter 4

Gem: I truly have too much free time. I also didn't fail my bio test.

Tidus: Gem owns nothing except the people she makes up and there is no blitzball in this story. Sorry to everyone who likes it.

"Ok, let's move onto a happier story," I said.

Yuna quickly agreed. It was rare that Yuna talked about her past and in front of others who had just joined our group. I looked around to see who else I could use. One was Marcus who never did tell me why he left California. Then there was Tidus, Lulu, and Wakka whose story I had some idea of and I figured that Ruby and Blank's story would go with Marcus's.

"I'll go," Tidus volunteered. (a/n all three are telling the story. I'm not gonna separate who's saying what when)

_Flashback_

_Tidus ran down the halls of his middle school. He knew that he needed to hurry. Lulu had left the lunchroom in a huff, angry at something or somebody but it wasn't him or Wakka. It was one of those people who thought they were better than everyone. A girl to be precise. A girl named Daniel. He knew full well that Lulu could protect herself but that was the problem. The school didn't know what she was. They didn't know that she was a black mage. He could hear Wakka following him. Both did not want their friend to get into trouble. She already got on people's nerves from appearing cold and uncaring. But it wasn't her fault that she was forced to shoulder such a heavy burden at such a young age. They were only in sixth grade!_

"_Lu!" yelled Wakka as the two boys rounded a corner._

_Lulu had turned and before she realized what was happening, Daniel had pounced on her. Lulu had managed to keep her cool and not use her magic. Tidus and Wakka quickly pulled both girls apart but Daniel escaped from Tidus's grasp and left in the direction of the lunchroom._

"_Are you alright?" Tidus asked._

"_I think. We should go report this. I was going to go talk to the counselor before I ran into that little piece of trash."_

_The counselor for their grade also knew about Lulu's ability. She knew that underneath the cold exterior Lulu put on, she was actually really sweat. The counselor would hopefully be able to help them. She had helped them when Lu came close to losing her control which scared both boys._

"_What can I do for you three today?" the counselor asked brightly when they walked in._

"_We have a slight problem. There's this girl…" started Tidus._

"_Who thinks it's fun to try to pick a fight with me. Today, she went too far and actually hit me. I will admit to hitting her back but it was in defense. She ran off when Tidus tried to grab her."_

"_Did you lose control?"_

"_No. I almost did though."_

_This wasn't the first time though. It happened at least two more times before Tidus's dad decided to have them all move. There were so few mages in Ohio and they were going to move just across the border to western Pennsylvania. Tidus had to admit he was nervous but Lulu looked somewhat excited._

"_I'm glad that we're leaving this hellhole. At least there are supposed to be more mages in our new school," said Lulu._

"_I agree. But it's still odd leaving. Hey Wakka, are you feeling okay?"_

"_I'm as nervous as you are Tidus. How are we supposed to find our way around the school?"_

"_They'll probably give us a guide. At least I hope they do," replied Tidus._

_The car stopped and the three looked out the window. Their families had been traveling since around dawn and the kids were ready to be at their new home. They now were in a residential area, and Wakka's father was talking to a girl with shoulder-length brown hair and bright brown eyes who was oddly enough holding a football. It appeared that she was giving directions because she was pointing up the street._

"_I wonder who she is," said Tidus._

"_She looks too young to be in middle school. She's probably in fifth grade," added Lulu._

_The girl did look young but Wakka had a gut feeling that she was older. There was a boy standing on the lawn and he also looked young. Most fifth graders wouldn't be that bold to walk up to a car-full of people they didn't know to give directions. As the car pulled away, Wakka turned around and watched the two kids walk back out into the street and punt the football back and forth to each other._

_Later that week, the three of them found out that there was a swing set behind the elementary school. They would normally go to a park to relax but this was much closer. Lulu stopped walking, causing the two boys to almost run into her._

"_What's wrong Lu?"_

"_You could have at least told us you were going to stop, ya?"_

"_Is it me or is that the same girl who gave directions to one of our new houses?" asked Lulu._

"_She does look familiar and she's starting to stare at us. I'm trying to figure out how exactly she's doing that while on a swing," said Tidus. (a/n the answer is very carefully)_

_Tidus began walking towards the swings with Lulu and Wakka following behind. He wondered vaguely how the girl got here and why there were no adults with her. She seemed too young to be on her own even if it was just a playground. As they approached, she jumped off her swing and walked over to a bike. After putting on her helmet, she left._

"_I want to know who she is. I can't name the number of times I've seen her in front of or behind her house playing football and once street hockey."_

"_Tidus, she's probably not our age. Why would you be concerned about someone who you've only seen in passing?" Lulu asked._

"_Because I'm starting to get the gut feeling that she is older than she looks. We're strangers to her so she's going to leave until she knows more. At least, that's what I'd do if I was in her shoes."_

_The rest of summer passed uneventfully for them. Tidus was upset that he still had no clue who this girl was other than she lived down the street from him. They had water balloon fights in their yards and watched a swim meet. They had also explored the middle school during the summer to figure out where their classes were since they got their schedules in the mail. Too bad that summer was now over._

"_I wonder what this place will be like. Will it be as eventful as our old school?" asked Tidus as they walked into school._

_All their parents had dropped them off just in case there was extra information to be filled out. None of them had any idea how this school system worked. Thankfully there wasn't and their parents had left._

"_Most likely not. No' much hap'ens 'round 'ere 'cept fer air shows," said a girl._

_Tidus almost immediately recognized her. She was that girl from down the street. He also knew that Lulu positively believed she wasn't old enough for middle school._

"_Who are you?" Tidus asked._

"_I'm Gem. Nice to meet you. I'm not kidding when I say this place is boring. Do you three need a hand findin' yer way around?"_

_Lulu was surprised at the accent the girl had. It was, thankfully, easy to understand but half the letters seemed to be dropped. Lulu had also realized that this was the same girl from the summer but she would reserve judgment until she knew Gem better._

"_Yes, please," said Lulu. "I'm Lulu, that's Tidus, and that's Wakka. I sense something about you."_

"_So do I. I'm a mage an' i's quite common around here to know of such things and who is one. Hey, Athene come meet some people!"_

_End flashback_

"That was back in seventh grade. I learned that Gem and Athene hung out in the library every morning because they never saw each other except for lunch," said Tidus.

"It was also nice to learn that there were other mages out there. Gem was a white mage and knew of a girl in the same grade who was also one. I was happy that there were people out there like me. Later, we met this other girl and learned that her name was Garnet."

Garnet grinned at this. There were still three more people who hadn't lived in the same place their entire lives. It was time to hear their stories.

Gem: Fin for now.

Tidus: R and R.


	5. Chapter 5

Gem: This is getting updated faster than I thought. I really should be working on homework right now but I don't feel like it.

Ruby: Gem only owns her OCs.

Gem: Unlike my other FF stories, Blank isn't truly blind. He's just considered legally blind.

"Y'all know that I used to live in California and that's where this starts," said Ruby.

"Ruby and I met in middle school. We were misfits for different reasons but that just brought us together. I have a lot of eye problems and am considered legally blind."

"My hair is naturally sea-colored and people tended to think that it was odd. Blank was nice to me on the first day."

_Flashback in both their eyes_

_Blank walked into his English class and sat down in the front row. The teachers knew about his problem so they always sat him where he could see. He was grateful for it. The teachers were constantly helping him in any way possible which tended to upset other kids. He pulled a book out of his binder and began to read. He'd picked up reading as a habit after his brother quit sending any form of message to their mother and him. Due to the fact that he was reading, he never even noticed the girl that sat down next to him._

"_Hey. I'm new here and I was wondering if you'd show me around."_

_He jumped, not expecting to hear someone talking to him._

"_I'm not sure if that is the best idea. I can't see as well as you think I do. Besides, why are you talking to me?"_

"_Why not? I'm new. I know no one and my guide is a prep. She left as soon as possible to go hang out with her 'friends.' So why don't we both start out again on the right foot? I'm Ruby and you are?"_

_Putting the book away, Blank answered, "I'm Blank."_

"_That's an interesting name. I like it! Are your eyes naturally red?"_

"_Yes," he replied cautiously. "Why are you so curious?"_

"_Like I said before. Why not? You have a very different feature and so do I. My hair's naturally sea-colored. And people constantly think that I dye it just to get attention."_

"_And I thought it was odd to have red eyes," muttered Blank._

_Ruby smiled. She could sense a nice friendship starting._

"We all need at least one friend in our lives. I get the feeling there are things Blank's not going to tell me for a long time yet."

_Days passed and the two of them found themselves becoming better and better friends. People would see them hanging out and began to wonder what they saw in each other. Ruby and Blank knew that they saw similarities in the other that other people missed. They learned more and more about each other's families as time progressed. Ruby's parents had died when she was really young so she didn't remember them but she lived with her grandparents. Blank had an older brother who he hadn't seen in several years. The brother had been heading to visit an old family friend and never came back. All they had ever seen was one letter that Blank's brother was living with the family friend for the year._

_This friend had a nephew who had become very good friends with Blank's brother. Neither family realized that their sons had already met and were planning a huge meeting for both families. It was going to be a way to surprise everyone but Blank's brother suddenly disappeared._

_Blank had been depressed since the end of summer and Ruby did all she could to cheer him up. She took him to all their favorite places and out to eat. She even tried to get him to join a club at their school but was unable to. She never realized how much her presence relaxed him. Often times they would stay at one of their houses and just play video games._

_They loved online role-playing and found Tidus's board. What they didn't realize was that Blank's brother was one of the members. There was a whole group on the board that seemed to know each other inside and out._

_Gem was the first to welcome them even though she wasn't a moderator. Soon after, Tidus, Wakka, Lulu, Garnet, Zidane, and some other guy who went on welcomed them. The other guy only identified himself as Gem's boyfriend and used the name Kane. Other people joined. Yuna and Rikku, though they didn't use their real names. A post went up one day about most of the group leaving to go help some of the members and then a thank you post from whomever the help was for._

_Eventually Blank's mother tracked down the family friend. It turned out that he had died and no one had any way to help get the family back together. Ruby's grandparents and Blank's father had also died in this time so, Blank's mother decided to pack up both children and see if she could find her other son. (a/n Blank's mother became Ruby's guardian if you were confused)_

_End Flashback_

"Turns out that we got lucky when we found you. I would have never guessed that you were that 'Kane' guy online," said Blank.

"I'm betting that you want to know what happened when I disappeared," replied Marcus.

"I want to know!" I said. Marcus had just appeared one day at my cousin's house and I'd always wondered where he'd come from. He didn't talk about the past and didn't seem to want to.

_Flashback (a/n this is Marcus's side)_

_Mum said that I was going to visit an old friend she hadn't seen since I was around three. What I didn't expect was for this family friend to get sick and die during my visit. I was supposed to come home at the end of summer vacation but he got sick and I ended up taking care of him. This illness lasted through the school year and mum said it would be better if I just stayed until the next summer. The first day in my new school, I accidentally ran over a guy with a tail._

"_Ouch. Where are ya going in such a hurry?"_

_I stopped and looked back and down where the voice was coming from. "I'm sorry. I was looking for room 405. Do you know where that is?"_

"_Yes," the boy replied. "You were going the wrong way anyway. I'm heading there myself. But I've gotta stop and talk to someone real fast first. You mind?"_

"_No."_

_As long as I got to my class I'd be fine. This school didn't provide any sort of guide and it was impossible to read the school map._

"_Then let's go!"_

_I turned and followed this boy down the hall. He stopped next to an open locker and I saw a girl kneeling slightly on the floor. She looked up, reached out and yanked the boy's tail slightly._

"_Hello yourself Gem. Friday's still cookie day isn't it?"_

"_Yes," she replied softly. I could barely hear it and wondered how my currently nameless companion heard it. "What do you want mumma to buy tonight?"_

_Mumma? I'd never heard the term from anyone. I assumed that mumma was most likely the girl's mother. My companion was smiling, which meant he knew exactly who Gem was refering to._

"_How about I call you? Gives me the rest of the day to decide."_

_She looked him up and down real fast and then said, "Like the cookies will affect how ya look Zid. Ya eat em like no tamorrow and ya can't deny it. I gotta go and so do you and yer friend. See ya!"_

_She left and I was left staring at my new friend. He motioned me to come on and we headed into the room right next to the locker. He sat down and motioned me to sit down next to him._

"_Who was that?" I eventually asked. "Wait. I haven't even introduced myself. I'm Marcus."_

"_Same here. I'm Zidane and that was my cousin Gem. We're really close. Once a month we have a cookie day to talk about what's going on in our lives. We don't get to see each other much since we're a grade apart. You new here?"_

"_I'm staying with a friend of my mother's. But something happened and I'm stuck here for the school year. I actually live in California."_

"_Never been there. Gem has and she didn't shut up about it for a week. This is study hall so we can do whatever we want so long as we're quiet about it."_

_I became friends with Zidane and also started to know his cousin a bit. She was quiet and soft-spoken but I saw her get mad once at Zidane and basically wrestle him to the floor. I learned after that that it was hard to get her mad but once mad, she would hurt you. I decided the day that she wrestled Zidane that I was never going to get her mad._

_Zidane and I talked on our own outside of school. We both had an enormous love of the internet and role-playing. I mentioned a board he might like and he said that he already belonged to it. I remembered talking to a guy online who had seemed somewhat cocky unless there was a certain girl around. He hadn't told me that Gem belonged to! I couldn't believe that I had met both of them online already. Maybe that's why there was some weird feeling of friendship from them the day I actually met them._

_In high school, I ended up having a few classes with Gem. One of them was band and I had to laugh at how hardcore she was about it. I enjoyed getting to see her everyday and realized that I really liked her. One day I talked to Zidane about it._

"_Hey Zidane?" I asked as I bit into my ham and salami sandwich._

"_Yeah?" he said as he bit into his own pastrami and swiss cheese sandwich._

"_Do you think that Gem likes me? She always seems to have a smile for me, no matter her mood."_

"_I wouldn't be surprised. You've helped her a lot with some stuff and you even helped her with some school stuff over Christmas Break. You didn't seem to mind that she nearly fell asleep twice."_

" _So should I ask her?"_

"_Why not? If you think so then ask!"_

_I did ask and she said yes. I would have never expected it out of her. Sure, her and Zidane had let me in on their 'cookie day' but I would have never guessed. The day was always a great way to get to know what was going on in each other's lives. Zidane and I knew most of what happened in our own lives since he had invited me to live with him after his uncle and my mother's friend died. (a/n just to clear this up. This uncle has no relation to Gem. The uncle was on Zidane's mother's side and is also the family friend.) His father Baku had insisted that I come live with them. I didn't mind though it was odd to hear Gem call him Uncle Baku._

_We became very involved online with a friend's role-playing board in my freshman year. This friend and his friends had moved to our town when we were still in middle school. Everyone jumped on the idea as soon as he announced his intentions. Gem could and had gone online with just her name since there was probably no one else in the world named Gem. I wasn't up for using my own name but Gem gave me a new name one day online. I liked it and signed up on the board using the name 'Kane.'_

_The board expanded and I met two more people who lived in California. I heard about what happened and agreed to help these people. I was worried but everything was going to be provided for. I was heading back to the state I used to live in but it was nowhere near the area I used to live. We had to be in and out really fast so I never had time to find my mother and brother again._

_I didn't find them again until this year…_

_End Flashback_

"Now you have both sides of the story," finished Marcus.

"Mum also realized that the family friend knew or was related to someone called Baku and finally looked him up. That's how we ended up here," said Blank.

I knew about half of Marcus's story and the rest made some sense. Zidane had told me that he had to go to some funeral and his friend was going to. I hadn't realized that day that it was Zidane's uncle who had died or that Marcus was living with him. Most of the action had happened at my house.

"Well, now we know where everyone came from," said Garnet.

Yup, now we did.

Gem: Wow, that was long.

Blank: R and R!


	6. Chapter 6

Gem: My muse seems to have run away on this story too. The breaks are going to be even longer now than before since I'm in college.

Zidane: Gem only owns her OCs. She doesn't own any other character.

Quote: "(We look at coloring books when we're in college) because we long for a time when the most we had to worry about was what to color next."

"What about you, Gem? We don't know much about your life before middle school," said Tidus.

"There's not much to tell. Elementary school wasn't that great but that's cuz I'm shy," I said.

"But what about this 'cookie day' you and Zidane had?" asked Garnet.

"Who ever said we gave it up?" Zidane asked the room as a whole. "We still find a day to do it."

I grinned because we truly managed to always find a day. Granted it had gotten harder as we got older. It surprised me that the group wanted to know though. But they'd all just poured their souls out. Finally I decided to tell them a bit of what happened; I was still learning to cope with some of it.

"I never had real solid friends when I was young. I met my first friend in kindergarten and the two of us danced together. She had to move away before third grade and we talked for a few years afterwards. We're no longer friends but somehow our mothers are."

I pause to breathe. Only Zidane and Marcus really knew about this.

"After she moved away, I found a friend in another girl. We became very close until around halfway through sixth grade when differences in the types of things we liked got in between our friendship. I started a friendship with Athene then but we didn't become really good friends until that summer. That's about all there is to tell. I didn't live an exciting life."

"But to go through two people who you thought were best friends had to be really tough!" said Yuna.

"I'm used to it and I don't regret it. So what's next? Food or more wasting our parents' money?"

"Money!"

I laughed as I heard them all yell. I would have too if I wasn't the one who had the idea. We truly were an amazing bunch of people. Yuna and Rikku had awesome dads who didn't mind that we'd done something that all of us were against. It let us know what was going on. Tidus, Lulu, and Wakka had found people like themselves when they'd moved here. And our group had immediately opened up to Ruby and Blank; that was something none of us had done since Rikku and Yuna joined us.

We headed back out to play more games. Our parents weren't expecting us back until around 11 or whenever South Park Clubhouse closed. Besides, we were determined to win that PS2 for ourselves.

Most of us switched games. Rikku, Lulu, Blank, and Ruby went over to ski ball; I had no clue that Blank was extremely good at ski ball. Garnet and I took over the duck game; Tidus, Zidane, Yuna, Cinna, and Eric were stomping spiders; and Marcus and Wakka were playing the ski jump game that Tidus and Zidane had been playing. We were determined to get that PS2.

People were still impressed with the "Stompers's" ability. They had been going at it for over two hours and there was a huge pile of tickets on the floor next to the game. Tidus got on the platform next to Yuna and together they did the highest level. I happened to have my camera on me so I took pictures. People cheered and clapped for them. After they finished, we took all our tickets up to the register-type thing that counted them.

"You have 5000 tickets," said the girl behind the counter. I read her nametag to learn that her name was Celeste.

"That's enough for a PS2 right, Celeste?" I asked.

"Yes it is. I've been watching you and your group since you came in. I'm not surprised that you chose a PS2. Who's the lucky someone?"

I had been pulled away from the counter by Marcus. I knew something was up but the guys weren't talking. In fact, Rikku and Yuna dragged Lulu, Ruby, and me to the bathroom to have a 'girl talk.' That translated into 'the guys are going to get the PS2 for you but you can't be there.' Darn them.

After actually using the facility and fixing our hair and makeup, we left to go find the boys again. I sensed that something was up. I could only see one van at the moment. Where did the other van go? As I was about to voice my thoughts, Marcus came back with the second van. We piled into the vans and headed home. I must have been pouting some because Marcus looked over with concern.

"Don't worry Gem. There's another surprise once we get home."

I brightened some but was still somewhat upset. I wanted to be able to hold that PS2 and unpack it once we got home. We arrived home at around 6 PM that night and headed to the basement of my house. The basement was completely dark and it made me wonder why it was so dark. Light normally came in through the windows. Marcus walked me over towards the TV and then gave some signal to Zidane who was by the light switch. As the lights turned on, I saw an already hooked up PS2. I literally squealed with excitement. They had already hooked it up and gotten games.

"The games are a late birthday present from all of us," Tidus said. "That's why you only got a card on your birthday. We had to wait until the day after prom."

"You mean that you knew that we were going to win a PS2? And you decided not to tell me?"

"It was your birthday present Gem. It's against birthday rules to ruin surprises."

I hadn't realized that I was crying until I was in the middle of a group hug. I remembered my birthday card saying something about late birthday presents. Did they have more planned? I also realized that the house seemed unusually quiet. We had been busy this year so I didn't really get the chance to have a party. Everyone else filtered upstairs except for Marcus and Zidane. They stayed back and waited while I turned out the lights. As I headed up the stairs, more lights turned on and I saw that people were waiting for me.

"Sorry that this is so late but it's impossible to get you out of the house long enough to do this," said Yuna.

Once again I was in the middle of a group hug. We had bonded and it seemed that they had managed to hide the party factor from me. I would be crushed if anything ever happened to any of my friends. The party lasted until around 11 PM though all the kids had ditched the party about an hour and a half earlier to go play video games. The parents stayed upstairs playing Hearts.

Two days later we were back in school and not happy about it. We had enjoyed our prom though. We didn't want Friday or Saturday to end but unfortunately both did. There was also someone there to take a tour of the high school when we came in on Monday. I would remember that blue hair forever and could feel Yuna tensing up beside Rikku.

"Rikku, E druikrd ra fyc kuha."

"Tuh'd funno. Fa'mm bnudald oui," replied Rikku.

"Hu tuipma rymm bycc druikr."

"Lyh oui ku fedr hu rymm bycc yd ymm?"

"O-oac."

"_Poor Yuna!"_ I thought.

"Dra clruum uvveleymc ghuf du hud mad oui keja y duin du res," Rikku assured her.

"Fru syta cina uv dryd?"

"Sa," I replied in the only word I really knew.

(a/n As usual here's the conversation. "I thought he was gone." "Don't worry. We'll protect you." "No double hall pass though." "Can you go with no hall pass at all?" "Y-yes." "The school officials know to not let you give a tour to him." "Who made sure of that?" "Me.")

"Thank you."

"The school officials have known for a while about this. We had to get permission to leave school that day. We gave them a slightly different version of events. But they basically knew who was coming to the school."

Yuna nodded and we grabbed our books before first period. Heading down, we dropped them off in the room and then ran into **him**. Yuna looked like she wanted to curl into a ball. But if I was in her position, I would want to do the same thing. I grabbed Yuna's arm gently and pulled her along with us to go find the boys. They would be coming to find us soon. Seymour kept trailing us though so we ducked into a bathroom to 'fix our makeup.' He waited outside the bathroom though.

"Oh! I must have left my makeup in my locker!" exclaimed Ruby.

"Me too!" said Yuna.

We left the bathroom to go get our makeup out of our lockers but we knew that by now, the guys would be there. We quickly headed there while talking about some things that guys find disgusting. Seymour continued to follow us though. We had literally surrounded Yuna in order to keep her safe until we could reach the guys.

"Would Seymour please report to the office?"

He growled and turned away but not before giving Yuna a once over. We may have to report him again. The school already knew from us giving some background information on Yuna but it never hurt to tell them again.

"Let's go," said Tidus as he headed towards the East Hall office. "We need to tell them about this again."

"But I don't want to cause trouble," said Yuna who was already looking slightly better.

"Nothing was your fault and I could tell that you didn't want it. Let's go," I said somewhat forcefully.

We headed to the East Hall office to report Seymour's stalking. That just wasn't right. Especially when Yuna had just started to finally get over what happened. There had to be some way for Yuna to be safe and not have to constantly worry. Hopefully our vice principal would be able to help. As we headed there, another student exited. None of us had ever seen or met her before.

"I'm Dona and who might you be?" she said rather rudely.

"People on a mission," was my reply before we went into the office. We needed this solved now.

As we walked back out, Dona was still there. Apparently she was waiting for us. Yuna whispered something to Rikku that sounded like 'she has a stick shoved up her ass.' Then I sensed that they were about to go and completely confuse Dona.

"E tuh'd ghuf fryd oui cyet aynmean," said Yuna.

"Haedran uv ic ryc jano kuut...fryd'c dra funt?" added Rikku.

"Ahkmecr?"

"Oac. Oac. Ahkmecr."

"Bmayca aqlica ic. Fa yna myda vun lmycc."

(a/n "I don't know what you said earlier." "Neither of us has very good...what's the word?" "English?" "Yes. Yes. English." "Please excuse us. We are late for class.")

I shook my head and they led the way to first period. Just how many more students were checking out the school? I knew that it wasn't the day that little eighth graders toured the school. Then I saw a sign. It was from a group of people who had lived in California and were thinking about moving. Parents and potential new students wandered around the front lobby. Thank heavens that Seymour was gone though. And that Dona girl. She gave me the creeps but she was in our first class!

"I thought I recognized you. You haven't changed since you left. Seymour was looking for you. He says he misses you."

"I missed you. Why didn't you tell me that you were leaving?" asked the guy with Dona.

He made me feel better in a sense. Sure he was a big guy but so were Wakka and Marcus. He seemed like a giant teddy bear. Yuna and Rikku had pulled all the girls to our normal seats and we put our chairs in a small circle.

"Back when we lived in Cali, our group of friends also included Dona and Barthello. Barthello's the guy with Dona. Dona lived just on the edge of the school district so we didn't see her that often. Barthello lived close by and tried to get Seymour to stop on multiple occasions," said Yuna.

"So should we open our arms to him?" I asked.

"Yes. I miss having him as a friend. He is really sweet. Dona would constantly get him to do things for her but we had no real way to go against her. Her father was extremely powerful within both the school district and the city."

"Dona is…how do I put this? Cra'c y nuoym byeh eh dra ycc," added Rikku. (a/n She's a real pain in the ass)

We all laughed. That was one sentence that didn't need translated. It fit so well. Barthello approached our circle of chairs with a mild look of disgust on his face. I looked up and then grimaced. Couldn't she save that for outside the classroom? Bedrooms were made for more than one reason!

"You don't mind my joining you, do you?" he asked.

"Nope. Just as long Dona doesn't come along," Yuna replied.

"She won't. She just wants little…playthings."

"Ew. So tell us some more about yourself," I said.

We spent the rest of the period working and learning more about our new friend. As we exited first period to head to our math classes, Dona tried to tag along. Apparently the guy she made out with wasn't her type and she was 'lonely.' Several people snorted 'bullshit' and then blamed it on the school's ventilation system. She huffed and stormed off.

"C'mon! Le's go!" I said.

"That was one good way to get rid of someone."

Before we could even reach the staircase, office workers intercepted us. They had passes for Lulu and me to go give tours. I had forgotten about that during our talk. Rikku and Yuna shoed us on and assured us that Yuna was going nowhere without another person there. As Lulu and I left, I heard a conversation in Al Bhed start up. We were assigned different groups but thankfully had someone to help us. Oddly enough, we ended up with our boyfriends. All four of us discussed what had happened in first period before we were called to grab our groups. Marcus liked our idea of not letting Yuna go anywhere by herself unless she was at home. He also said that it was better that she agreed to it.

Gem: I've decided to end this here. Who will be in their groups?

Zidane: Please R and R!


	7. Chapter 7

WildfireDreams-Thank you. I'm in college and have 2 other stories that I'm supposed to be writing. But I'm gonna finish this chapter tonight.

Timmy-Thank you. If we were anywhere near each other, I'd be blushing hard.

yoo-hoo luver.wlegs-First, I really should know how to spell your name on fanfiction. Second, he's a raccoon. Third, that story needs to go up. Fourth, I love you for reading my crazy stories just like I read your's. Fifth, morocco's in Florida.

Gem: I've been watching Advent Children a bit too much lately. It's gone to my head.

Tidus: You can say that again.

Gem: Shut up. Anyway, back to what I was talking about. I've decided to add some more Final Fantasy people into the story. Why? Well, this is crossovers and I want to see Final Fantasy VII through Final Fantasy X included in my story. Also, I like Aries as a live person so she's alive in my story. I forgot to mention that there will be one person from Final Fantasy X-2 who shows up.

Tidus: Gem does not own anything but the plot and herself.

Gem: Just as a reminder, any Al Bhed thinking or talking will be put at the end of the conversation or sentence.

Cloud stared at this school. It was bigger than the one him, Aries, and Tifa went to. Their other friends, Yuffie and Vincent, went to a nearby school back home. They had been split up once they reached high school but managed to stay friends. Now, Cid and Barret were looking for a place for them to stay. They just needed to get out of California. There were too many bad memories at their old high school. Cloud looked up at the sound of a female voice introducing herself to the group.

"Hi. My name's Gem an' 'e's Marcus."

"I can introduce myself ya know."

"Anyway, welcome. We'll be yer tour guides today. Don't be afraid ta ask questions, because I definitely can't read minds. An' I don't think anyone else here can do that. So who would like to introduce themselves first?"

Cloud watched as Tifa took the initiative. "Hi. I'm Tifa."

"I'm Aries."

"Cloud."

"Vincent."

"Yuffie."

"Seymour."

Cloud watched a quick look of disgust pass over Gem's face. It was almost impossible to tell that she had made a face. He attributed this ability to years of reading Vincent's expressions.

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Squall made a face. He didn't want to be here. He didn't mind his old school but Rinoa insisted. So he came. But at least the two people leading the tour seemed like decent people. Right now, he was getting a quick run down on everything. Like the fact that it was fine to ask pretty much any questions they wanted.

"Do you have hot dogs for lunch?"

_"Figures."_

"No. Even if we did, I wouldn't trust them," said Lulu. "Now, can we get back to introducing ourselves?"

"The guy with hot dogs on his mind is Zell. I'm Quistis."

"Irvine."

"Selphie."

"Rinoa."

"Squall."

"I'm Seifer and that's Fujin and Raijin. Are you Lulu?"

"Yes. And if you were prompt like the rest of my group, then you would know that," Lulu replied coldly.

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Cloud watched as Gem walked into one of the hall offices. Well, that's what she called them. She came out followed by a guy who had to work for the school. The guy smiled and gave a few rules that Gem didn't know off the top of her head. So far, the group had been silent until he heard Yuffie's stomach growl.

"I'm guessin' tha' yer hungry. C'mon. We'll stop by the bathrooms before we go into the cafeteria. I don't want anybody in my group getting lost."

They followed her to the bathrooms which were conveniently located right outside the cafeteria. He noticed that Gem and Marcus didn't go in but stayed outside discussing something about what sounded like band. At least they had a few bands here. That might help with stress.

Yuffie made a face as she came out of the middle stall. It was tiny! Who in their right mind would make a bathroom stall that small? As she walked out, she nearly walked into two girls who were chattering in some strange language. She was fairly sure that she had never heard that language before. Tifa came out of the other small stall and gave a quick look at the two girls. What sounded like an apology came from the blond girl and the brown-haired one nodded in acceptance.

Going back outside, they met up with the rest of their group. Aries was fairly fast in using the restroom as were Cloud and Vincent. It sort of surprised them that Gem and Marcus were still standing outside. Tifa was sure that they were going to also use the restroom in that time. They were led into the cafeteria and sent to go order some food. Tifa watched as Gem pulled a lunch out of her purse and gave some money to Marcus.

"They have tator tots! I love tator tots!" said Yuffie.

Aries and Tifa shook their heads. Ever since they were young, Yuffie loved them. They were the perfect finger food. The three of them were behind Marcus who quickly explained a few things to the lunch ladies and then asked for an extra thing of tator tots.

_"Well that will explain why Gem gave money to Marcus,"_ Tifa thought.

Gem had grabbed a table and the rest of their group came over and sat down. Tifa really wanted to get to know this young girl better. The one thing that she wanted to ask but decided that it wasn't too important to the tour was how old Gem was. She only appeared to be a freshman but Tifa had a feeling that she was at least a sophomore if not a junior.

"Hey. I had a question but it wasn't relevant to the tour. What grade are you and Marcus in? The two of you never said."

"Oh. Sorry about that. I'm a junior and Marcus is a senior."

At his name, Marcus looked at Gem. Seeing that he wasn't needed, he went back to his previous conversation with Yuffie. As far as Tifa could make out, it was about tator tots and ninjas. (a/n I've had stranger conversations)

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Lulu pulled her own lunch out of her purse. Honestly, the nerve of that guy! He kept asking questions that barely pertained to the tour or even the township. Mainly things like who was available and who to avoid. Honestly!

"Don't worry Lu. He's a pain. Frying his ass is not a good idea especially since this is for NHS," said Wakka.

"He'll always be a pain in the ass. Personally, I want to see someone fry his ass off. That would be fun to see."

Lulu turned towards the sound of the voice. The guy had said barely two words since they started the tour. She was fairly sure that he didn't talk unless someone forced it out of him. At least he didn't ask stupid questions like the ones Seifer asked. She reached into her purse and gave fifty cents to Wakka to buy her some tator tots. Tator tots were awesome but her friends weren't going to learn that any time soon.

Rinoa sat down across from Lulu and gave her a smile. Lulu reminded her of Squall in a way. Both seemed to keep their emotions locked up and not tell anyone what they were feeling.

"This isn't relevant to the tour but what grades are you in? I know that you need to be at least a junior to be in NHS."

"We're both juniors."

"Okay. Thanks!" replied Rinoa as she went back to her food.

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"Rikku, tet oui caa? Dryd meddma beala uv dnycr fyc eh Gem'c knuib."

"Oac. Pid E tuh'd drehg cra'c duu luhlanhat. Pacetac, Marcus yht Gem ryja ghufh camv- tavahca vun oaync ybbynahdmo."

"Dnia. Drana'c dra pamm vun ic du kad du lmycc. Fa cruimt knyp Gem'c fung vun ran."

"Oac. E fyhd du ghuf fru fyc eh Lu'c knuib druikr. Dra uha kio ryc y pekkan aku dryh ymm dra dnisbadc bid dukadran." (a/n "Rikku, did you see? That little piece of trash was in Gem's group." "Yes. But I don't think she's too concerned. Besides, Marcus and Gem have known self-defense for years apparently." "True. There's the bell for us to get to class. We should grab Gem's work for her." "Yes. I want to know who was in Lu's group though. The one guy has a bigger ego than all the trumpets put together.")

The two girls got up and continued on to their Physics class. Before they headed downstairs though, they opened up Gem's locker to get her Physics work. No use in her missing any points in that class. Their entire group needed all the extra points they could get.

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Later that day, Cloud was getting ready to leave. He honestly liked Gem and Marcus. They managed to somehow catch any questions that he had before he could ask them. Tifa and Aries also looked pleased with the tour of the school. A full true smile from both girls told him that they would be staying there. Cid picked them up and took them to a small place he'd found. They'd grab an early dinner and then talk about the school.

"Hey, Gem. Can you cook for a bit please? I'll be right back."

"Yes. Zack, will ya be okay on register by yerself?"

Zack nodded. It was his first job and apparently Gem got called in. She said she worked weekends during the school year. He looked up as a large group of people walked in and mentally groaned.

"You'll get used to large orders. Don't cha worry."

Cloud stood back from the register a bit and looked at the family meals. That might help them save some money in the long run. Also, it looked like there was a lot of stuff. He heard Cid ask him how many hot dogs he wanted to eat.

"Two."

"Okay. So, between the three of you, I have four hot dogs and a burger. What else do you want to eat?"

After about five more minutes, they moved closer to the register. The guy on register looked nervous and Cloud had a feeling that it was his first time by himself. He also noticed that there was a girl who looked a ton like Gem coming forward in case she was needed.

"We'd like the family of four," said Aries.

Zack look slightly flustered since Gem normally got register during busy times. Aries noticed this and waited for him to grab the pad of paper.

"Two plain hot dogs, two with cheese, two with chili and onions and a plain burger."

"Okay. Do you want anything on your fries?"

"No. Thanks though. Also, four Pepsis."

Zack turned around to call back a burger only to find Gem standing right behind him. He nearly handed her the slip of paper before he realized that he needed to ring up the total. He smiled and then went back to help Gem cook.

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Rikku and Yuna arrived back at their house slightly worried. Seymour was back. And he knew where Yuna was. Thankfully, he didn't know where she lived. But there was a pleasant surprise waiting the two of them when they go home.

"Paine!" yelled Yuna as she hugged the other girl.

"Hello to you too Yuna. I heard what happened. The police transferred my father here."

"For Yunie's protection?"

"Yes. And I'm to go to your school, and I have your schedule."

Yuna smiled. She had missed her friend. Paine was an old childhood friend whose father was constantly being moved due to his job. She would always watch out for her two friends whenever she was around. Yuna and Rikku had kept her updated on what happened within the rest of their circle of friends. She also knew how to speak Al Bhed so that would come in handy. Just then Yuna's cell phone rang.

"Hey. Not much. Wanna drag Garnet over here to meet someone? See you soon."

"Who was that?" asked Paine.

"That was a friend of our's. Her name's Gem. Garnet is her best friend. They'll be over in about fifteen minutes," replied Yuna

"Will she understand about the problem you faced two years ago?"

"Both girls will. Gem came to help Yunie and me leave California."

Paine nodded. If someone was willing to risk basically their life for someone they barely knew, then they had to be a good person. She jumped as the doorbell rang and Rikku ran to answer it.

"Hey. I thought that you were going to take the entire fifteen minutes. I'll open the garage for your bikes."

"Yuna."

"Yes?"

"Ruf silr tu bnuuv tu drao haat..."

"Eh untan vun oui du kyeh draen dnicd? Hud silr. Gem'mm pameaja oui vyenmo vycd. Cra belgc ib uh draca dnyedc eh haynmo ajanouha cra saadc."

"Ruf?"

"Cdivv E'ja syhykat du kad uid uv uin udran vneahtc ehlmitehk ran ufh luiceh. Cra fyc dra vencd du naymewa cusadrehk fyc kuehk uh."

"Pid fru ynnyhkat ed?"

"Tidus'c vydran." (a/n "How much do proof do they need..." "In order for you to gain their trust? Not much. Gem'll believe you fairly fast. She picks up on these traits in nearly everyone she meets." "How?" "Stuff I've managed to get out of our other friends including her own cousin. She was the first to realize something was going on." "But who arranged it?" "Tidus's father.")

Paine quit talking as the three girls walked back into the living room. The one girl had some cookies in her arms. Both girls' faces lit up as they saw Paine. Paine took in their features and noticed that they could pass for sisters. The girl holding the bag of cookies had her hair in a ponytail that was wrapped up in a small bun. The other girl had her hair braided in one long braid that hung down to her butt.

The girl with the cookies spoke first. "I'm Gem an' tha's Garnet."

"Hi."

Paine smiled slightly and introduced herself. "I'm Paine."

"Zid an' I made cookies last Friday. I though' tha' ya might want some."

Paine noticed that the girl had reverted to the way most of the people in the city talked. She was dropping letters while still being intelligible. And the generosity of her was amazing. Paine watched as Yuna took the cookies to the kitchen.

"Snack-time?" asked Rikku.

"No snitchin'! Naw yet anyway. We had a bit too much fun with our cookie day."

"How so?" asked Yuna.

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I was tired from today but that wasn't going to stop me from getting more money. One of the other employees got really sick and I got called in. We were training a new guy named Zack. Nice kid but needs to talk more. Also, a group of people came in and I think I saw them today at school. Actually, I think they were in my group of people that I escorted around school. The one girl's voice was familiar as was one of the guy's. I got home and called Yuna to see if her and Rikku wanted to come study for the AP exams with Garnet and me. Turned out she had someone she wanted us to meet. I got the feeling that it was an old friend of her's. Not that it really bothers me but still, anyone to help us makes our protection job easier.

Garnet and I decided to take some of the cookies Zidane and I made over to Yuna's. Besides, we had a bit too much fun with the press machine my mother owns. Along with that, we had too much fun making buckeyes. So Garnet and I took about half the cookies that were left over to Yuna's house. Even doing that we still have a ton of cookies.

The person that Yuna wanted us to meet was actually an old friend of her's named Paine. Just her name would be enough to send me running in the other direction if I didn't know her to be Yuna and Rikku's friend. She seemed slightly surprised that I had brought food over and that I quickly reverted to my normal form of talking. But then again, most of it is easily picked up or that's what my friends have told me in the past.

Gem: That's it for this chapter.

Tidus: Please R and R because Gem loves reviews!


	8. Chapter 8

Yoo-hoo luver.wlegs: Wow. It's snowing! But you probably know that.

WildfireDreams: I have played 12 but not enough for me to really know the characters. This actually started out as a IX/X crossover.

Gem: This chapter moves fast and made me cry while I was writing it. Some stuff is alluded to but not actually said. I only own myself.

Paine groaned as Rikku woke her up the next morning. Why did that girl never seem to slow down? She heard Yuna grumble in the room next to her's and shook her head. Apparently Yuna wasn't used to it either. She got out of bed and got ready for the day. A small dagger was hidden in her boot in case something did happen. She hoped that she didn't get in trouble for the weapon. Soon enough, they were heading down to their bus stop. When they got there, Paine met another girl who was dressed all in black. She introduced herself as Lulu.

"Do we get to work on the stupid poems again today?" asked Rikku.

"Mine stinks to high heaven. There is a reason I avoid poetry at all costs. And Rikku, much as I love you since we're related, what did you have that made you so hyper?"

"Chocolate yogurt."

Paine looked up at the voice and smiled slightly. She got a smile in return from Gem but the girl looked like she had stayed up half the night. Paine watched as the girl shrugged off her backpack, sat in an empty seat, and shut her eyes. None of the other girls seemed to care so she figured that this was probably normal.

I'd had a bad night. I just couldn't sleep. Sure, I fell asleep when I went to bed but then I woke up at three and stayed awake until four but was half-asleep until quarter til six when I had to get up. I'm used to Rikku being hyper but Yuna was right. Why on earth was Rikku so hyped up? Sure, an old friend of their's had come but even Yuna looked half-dead. The bus arrived at school and we got off.

The boys and Ruby were waiting to greet us when we arrived at our lockers. As we moved through the hall in our little pack, someone approached us. I was hoping that it was Barthello but it just had to be Seymour. Why? Why do we have to be "graced" with his presence so early in the morning?

"Hello Yuna."

I watched her freeze and start to almost back away before Tidus gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"What did the police say you had to do? You had to stay a certain distance away from me at all times. But you think that you're so high and mighty! Well, you have another thing coming because I'm not putting up with your stunts any longer."

And then Yuna slapped him. She had slapped him so hard that a red hand mark had immediately appeared. Yuna was still quivering in rage as Marcus leaned down and knocked Seymour out. People were openly staring at us but none of us really noticed. Marcus hefted Seymour onto his shoulder and we headed towards the main office. The teachers had been warned about him so none of them made a move to stop us. Now, we just needed to get Yuna to calm down.

"Crrr...ed'c ugyo. Fa'na rana," said Rikku.

"Yuna, ra fuh'd pa ynuiht yho muhkan."

"Dra bumela femm lusa. Fa'ja rambat oui pavuna pid fa mad drec ku duu muhk. Oui'mm haat du damm dras ajanodrehk pid nasaspan dryd oui'na cinnuihtat po ouin vneahtc." (a/n "Shhh...it's okay. We're here," said Rikku. "Yuna, he won't be around any longer." "The police will come. We've helped you before but we let this go too long. You'll need to tell them everything but remember that you're surrounded by your friends.")

Yuna nodded but it was obvious that she was still scared and angry. Angry that Seymour managed to find her and scared of what he might be able to do. But we were her friends and so we'd protect her as much as we could. The main office called the police to report what happened. We were excused from our classes until the police learned all the information they would need to charge Seymour.

"I'm Officer Bob. I will need information from all of you but you have your rights," he said right before he recited the Miranda Rites. "Okay, let's start with the person who's charging this young man with assault. I will need the full story."

"I used to live in California until two years ago. I was friends with most everyone but had a few close friends. Seymour was one of them. But in middle school, he began to get very possessive of me. I could barely talk to my cousin without him getting angry. He never abused me in any form but it was obvious that he wanted to cut me off from everyone I knew."

Yuna had begun to cry but forced herself to go on when Tidus gave her hand another squeeze and Rikku gave her a hug.

"I loved to write and make up my own characters so I decided to join an online role-playing board in order to see how creative I could be. The creator of the board realized that something was up."

"Who was the creator?"

"I was," replied Tidus. "Gem's actually the one who first realized that there might be something wrong and tipped off me, Lulu, Wakka, Marcus, Zidane, Garnet, and Cinna. We did something that was against all we believed in."

"We decided to have a video talk and my father was in the room when the signal came through. I gave a sketchy outline to the six people who were able to be there for the visual chat. Gem, Lulu, Tidus, Wakka, Marcus, and Zidane. Even with what little I gave them, I sensed that they were about to make things better for me. They barely knew me at the time but I was ready to get away. The police in California hadn't done anything to stop Seymour despite the number of times my family tried to get them to cooperate."

"My father was also in the room but was out of sight of the camera. Our fathers had been friends years before and he decided to repay his old friend in the best way he could. He arranged for the six of us to go to California and get Yuna back to Pennsylvania. He had also just bought a house that he planned on renting out to get a bit more money but he decided instead to give it Yuna and her family."

"Tidus came just like he promised and Seymour somehow knew that I was moving. He tried to attack Gem but was stopped by Marcus. We left California and moved into the new house Tidus's father bought. Garnet and Cinna both knew what the rest of them were doing but stayed behind to help get the house ready for us."

"None of us saw Seymour again until yesterday when he followed us around school before the bell rang. We had reported that he was following us and the school officials said that they would watch him for anything he did that seemed even slightly suspicious," added Rikku.

Officer Bob nodded as he took down notes. Yuna was openly crying and I searched my purse for a tissue for her. I found one and her hands were shaking so much that I gently took her face in my hands and wiped it for her. But that still didn't stop the flood that kept coming. I felt someone else kneel down beside me and hand me another tissue. I instructed Yuna to blow before I got another clean tissue and wiped off the raccoon eyes made by her mascara. The flood of tears kept coming and I watched the box of tissues descend into Yuna's lap. But maybe, just maybe, we wouldn't have to always have someone watching Yuna anymore.

Cloud didn't understand why there were police cars outside the school when Cid dropped them off. They were heading to the main office when an office worker intercepted them.

"The main office is closed for an undefined amount of time. I think it has something to do with the cop cars that are outside the school."

Cloud nodded as the office worker gave each of them their schedules. He then learned that this school did not provide guides to anyone who was new. That was a bummer but he hoped that he could find out why the cops were at a school that seemed like most other schools. He followed Tifa and Aries to their first period of the day. The teacher just told them to sit wherever they could find a seat and that he would like to talk to them after class. But the main topic seemed to be why there were police cars outside school.

"Attention faculty and students, please close all doors and stay inside your room until the next announcement. Any teacher not on duty should report to the main office. No hall passes will be allowed. Thank you."

Cloud watched the teacher shut the door and then looked at the two girls. Both shrugged so he was at a loss. The teacher approached them and began to explain what they had missed in the past few days. They were allowed to start working on the missed assignments while they waited for the next announcement.

Squall wasn't sure why they couldn't go anywhere at the moment. What was going on? And someone had said that there were cop cars outside of the school. He had to admit that he was so bored he could scream. They had finished all their work and covered pretty much every "acceptable" topic they could think of. Except for one….

"Sure meatloaf is good but hot dogs are better." (a/n I'm listening to Meatloaf as I type this chapter)

"_Figures,"_ Squall thought.

"I don't agree at all,' said Rinoa.

"Oh? So what's your opinion then?"

"Anything barbequed. Chicken, ribs…I'm sure that there's more."

"I still insist that meatloaf is the best!" replied Selphie.

"Well what about you, Squall?" Quistis asked him.

"I really don't care as long as it isn't ABC food. That's just gross."

"I'm going to have a heart attack! Squall said more than three words together!"

"Shut up Irvine."

Irvine pouted at this. He wanted to tease Squall some more but that would be impossible. Especially since Squall was currently giving him a death glare. At that moment, several people walked back into the classroom. Three girls and a guy. They were quietly talking between themselves and two of the girls had puffy red eyes. Squall wondered what had happened. The third girl just looked livid and drained at the same time.

Yuna had finished her story and the police had left. The office staff allowed Rikku and Paine to stay but made the rest of us go to class. We didn't want to. Garnet and I had finally got our own tears under control and Lulu just looked tired. So did Zidane when I looked at him. We had a note from the office though that excused us from paying attention in class because it would be hard to do. We quit talking as soon as we saw people looking at us. And then they started to bombard us with questions.

"Why were there cops?"

"Tell me why you're crying."

"Did Yuna really hit a guy?"

Along with about a million other questions. Just then a group of people approached and told the others to back off. They did but reluctantly. This new group of people sat down and showed us the work that we missed. They said that we didn't need to work on it just now but maybe we could get our minds off of what was bothering us.

"Thanks," I said.

One of the guys nodded in return. He offered me a small smile and reaching into a coat pocket, pulled out a packet of tissues. The girls immediately got us to start talking about clothes and what colors looked better. The guys got Zidane to start talking about video games and role playing. I knew what they were trying to do. They were trying to distract us so that we could let go of every thing.

Wakka, Ruby, Blank, Cinna, and Marcus walked into their own class. They were drained. Ruby looked the worst and Blank and Marcus were trying to comfort her. People surrounded them the moment they entered the classroom and began asking all sorts of questions. Several people came to their aid along with the teacher and they collapsed into their seats. The teacher told them the assignment and made sure that the other people didn't continue their questions.

"Attention faculty and students. We are sending you home early today. There will be no after school activities. Repeat, there will be no after school activities today. Thank you."

"I'm glad. Gem's?" said Ruby.

"Only if it's okay with her. I'll ask her for you. That okay?" replied Marcus.

"Yes."

The students headed to their lockers to get their things. Wakka, Ruby, Blank, Cinna, and Marcus met Lulu, Garnet, Zidane, and me at the junior's lockers. It was obvious that all the girls were drained and the guys were going to hold their tears until we got home. None of them ever cried in school or at public events. They waited until they were surrounded by friends. We decided that we'd get Wakka's car later because none of us were able to see straight. When we got to the front of the school, a limo was waiting for us along with an extra person to drive Wakka's car back to his house.

"Jecht wanted all of you to come to his house. All of your parents are there already."

We climbed into the back of the limo and curled up next to each other. The limo driver looked back at us and then headed off. We stopped by Wakka's house briefly to get the extra driver before continuing to Tidus's house. Our parents knew better than to ask us questions. Questions that we shouldn't answer since the answers were none of our business. Instead we locked the door to Tidus's room after getting a tray of milk, tea, and cookies from Blank and Marcus's mother. We weren't going anywhere until we learned how Rikku, Yuna, and Paine were.

After several hours, the phone rang and I jumped up to grab it. I looked at the caller ID and realized that it was Rikku's cell phone. I answered the phone and nearly broke down in tears when Rikku said that they were coming. Tidus went to go tell Jecht and he sent a limo to get them. About fifteen minutes later the three girls were also in the room with us. We also had about five boxes of tissues on the floor. Once all the crying was over Tidus convinced us to play video games. It would distract us and maybe make things appear normal again. Or as normal as they were going to be for a while.

"Tidus? Unlock the door!"

Tidus got up and unlocked the door. Our parents were standing there and they came in. The girls curled up either near their parents or in mine and Garnet's case, on our mother's laps. We sat there for who knows how long while it got dark outside. Slowly peace came over each of us and all the kids slept. When we woke up, we were wrapped in blankets and there was a few boxes of pizza sitting on the floor for us. We each dragged our blankets over and created a sort of tent over ourselves. We began to tear into the pizza and slowly, we each told something about ourselves that no one ever knew.

"I met Zidane when we were both about six months old. There's a picture of us meeting somewhere at home," said Marcus.

"I used to never open up to people outside my family. I finally opened up to others when I was about eight or so." Zidane.

"I used to hide a lot of stuff from my mother. I eventually learned to just tell her. It was hard though." My share.

"My parents are actually very rich but they wanted to show me how hard they had to work to earn all that wealth. That's why I don't have a car of my own." Garnet.

"I once had an elder sister. She left for a place that accepted mages when I was very young. I drew in on myself because she was no longer there." Lulu.

"I got into a fight once to help someone I barely knew." Blank.

"My parents worked for the government which is why I was living with my grandparents." Ruby.

"Lulu and Wakka were my first true friends. I've gained more friends since then but they showed me something that I had been missing." Tidus.

"I love all of my friends like siblings. Each of you surprise me in more than one way." Wakka. He looked over at Yuna with a fond look in his eyes.

"I am actually on the police force." Paine.

"I didn't like my cousin at first when Pops and Uncle Braska got a house together. Over time, we became each other's best friend." Rikku.

"I got my strength to keep going from each of you. I honestly thought about suicide a few times but you all were the reason I kept going." Yuna.

We…tackled her. We'd each had a secret no one knew but we were able to share it with friends. After our big group hug, we all decided to lay on the floor and enjoy each other's company. For us, no more words needed said. Our parents looked in on us later and just let us be. We would head back to our homes when we were ready.

"The school called and said that you all were excused from school tomorrow," Jecht told us after our parents were gone. He shut the door as he left and we continued laying there in silence.

Gem: Please R and R. And have a tissue if you cried.


	9. Chapter 9

Gem: Okay, well, that last chapter was kinda amazing and fast-paced and this one's not much better. So I don't put a useless author's note in, I'm going to describe two of the foods up here. Applecake is flat like a pizza almost. On top of it is sliced apples and it's eaten cold. Crap, now I want some. Also, aesukies are a type of cookie. (I don't think I spelled that right). They are shaped like a diamond and have a slit in the middle. One end of the cookie is pulled through this slit so that it has a twisted look to it. (It's done before you bake the cookie.) After the cookie has cooled, powdered sugar is sprinkled on to it. It's actually quite good.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the plot, my character, the characters' kids, and the food!

It was a day in early June when Garnet, Yuna, Rikku, Paine, Lulu, Tidus, Wakka, Blank, Ruby, Cinna, and I came running out of the school at the final bell. We were all very excited to be done with our junior year. The last month had been a total rush between all the court procedures, AP testing, everyone coming to watch the Lithuanians dance over Memorial Day weekend and best of all, seeing our senior friends graduate. They were heading off to college, and we were going to be seniors. Marcus and Zidane were waiting outside for us.

"Come on! We're going to make cookies," said Zidane as he grabbed me and Garnet.

"Yer a bit excited 'bout makin' cookies."

"There's applecake at home too!"

Applecake? Grammy and Pappy had made applecake? No wonder Zidane was excited. That stuff is so good! We were pretty much dragged home and nearly bombarded my house. Everything was already set out on the counter and we began to make all kinds of different cookies. Aesukies, buckeyes, chocolate chip cookies, whatever else we had the ingredients for. The kitchen was pretty much covered in flour and whoever had clean hands would feed people pieces of applecake. Yuna had bought containers last week so we made up little tubs for ourselves and then ones for other people we knew including those that helped us that day.

The kitchen was a mess when we were done. The trashcan was overflowing; there was flour everywhere; and there were no more places to put cookies except perhaps on the floor. By the time we were done, it was past dinner time. None of us wanted dinner though since we had also finished the applecake.

"So what do we do now?" Yuna asked. Her hair was smeared with flour as were her cheeks.

"Video games," I said. I too had flour in my hair but not enough to turn my hair grey.

We all cleaned ourselves up and I honestly didn't think that you could fit seven girls, me included, in one of my bathrooms. But we did and soon we all looked a bit better. Well, at least none of us had flour in our hair.

_TO REALIZE _

To realize  
The value of a sister  
Ask someone  
Who doesn't have one.

All the girls were sisters in spirit. We had been through so much together and opened our arms to people we didn't even know at first.

_To realize  
The value of ten years:  
Ask a newly  
Divorced couple._

I think that Yuna and Rikku realized long ago how precious the other was. I watched them splash each other while cleaning the flour out of their hair.

_To realize  
The value of four years:  
Ask a graduate._

Zidane and Marcus were graduating next week. It was unbelievable for all of us but they had been in a daze since their last day.

_To realize  
The value of one year:  
Ask a student who  
Has failed a final exam._

We had made it through our junior year. And none of us had failed our finals.

_To realize  
The value of nine months:  
Ask a mother who gave birth to a stillborn._

We'd become closer and learned more about each other in the last month than we had in all the years that we knew each other.

_To realize  
The value of one month:  
Ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby._

One month. Was that all it had been? It felt like so much longer.

_To realize  
The value of one week:  
Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper._

One week. Was that all that was left before Zidane and Marcus graduated?

_To realize  
The value of one hour:  
Ask the lovers who are waiting to Meet._

It had certainly taken more than one hour to make all the cookies but even in that time, we didn't always have to say something.

_To realize  
The value of one minute:  
Ask a person  
Who has missed the train, bus or plane._

One minute. Our decision three years ago only took one minute. We were going to help whoever we could.

_To realize  
The value of one-second:  
Ask a person  
Who has survived an accident_.

One second. Two years ago, one second was all we had to be shocked before we made our decision. This past year, one second was all we needed to open our arms to others like us.

_To realize  
The value of one millisecond:  
Ask the person who has won a silver medal in the Olympics._

One millisecond. Had we ever had a decision made in one millisecond? I would probably never know.

_To realize the value of a friend:  
Lose one._

We had not lost any friends. Rather, we had gained several. And the few that we gained understood almost immediately what had happened.

_Time waits For no one.  
Treasure every moment you have.  
You will treasure it even more when  
you can share it with someone special._

I smiled as we all piled out of the bathroom and headed downstairs. We were ready to face any new challenges that were sent our way.

It was seven years later. We had managed to stay friends through college. That was the biggest challenge since we were scattered. Zidane had proposed to Garnet Christmas Eve of her senior year and she accepted. A week later, Tidus and Yuna were engaged. And on my twenty-fourth birthday, Marcus came and visited. He took me to a local restaurant for dinner and there it was that he proposed.

"Gem, you home?"

"Door's open!" I yelled.

In trooped Yuna, Rikku, Lulu, Paine, Garnet, Athene, Aries, Tifa, Yuffie, Quistis, Selphie, and Rinoa. During our senior year, our groups had merged into one big group and some of us wound up at the same college by accident. Yuna had her son Ramunas with her and he was looking around at everything. He cooed and Yuna set him down in the living room where she kept a watchful eye on him. Rinoa also had a young daughter named Irena. Her daughter would cry every time Ramunas came too close to her. We sat in the living room eating cookies and talking.

Cookie day hadn't died out but it had since become a biannual event. And everyone participated in it if they could. We began to rotate the houses since two couples had children. Looking back on it, I realized how much had changed and how much hadn't. We were friends and some had already started their own families. Yuna ran her own counseling practice out of her home so she could keep an eye on Ramunas and the rest of us were successful in the paths we chose to take. So much had happened and I'm hoping that whoever reads this next uses it to change the world for the better.

"That's all Mumma's diary says. That's the end," said Kazuko. "Why did it take this long for us to find this out?"

"I don't know Kaz," said Ramunas. "But at least we finally have insight into the lives of our families."

All the children who could come had gathered. Kazuko, her brother Rahim, Ramunas, his sister Kat, Irena, Aya, and Leeba to be exact. Some of them had children of their own now and in Kazuko's case, a grandchild. Gem had wanted to see a great-grandchild born before she died and she got her wish.

"Our parents deserve to be remembered for everything that they've done. Rahim, do you remember planting flowers on the graves of Mumma's great-grandparents?"

"Yes. That will be a tradition for all of us just as cookie day became a tradition for our parents."

"Let's keep cookie day alive," said Irena. "You see how important it was to our parents. Maybe it'll become just as important to us."

They placed the diary out where anyone would be able to read it. Like it had been said, change the world for the better and they were bound to do just that. Change the world one step at a time as they had been told. As they began their own cookie day tradition, they could feel the spirits of their parents watching them and knew in their hearts that their parents' tradition would continue for quite a long time.

Gem: I debated about whether or not I should finish it but I decided to do just that. Please leave a review and tell me if I should explain the time between Gem's diary ending and when the kids read it.


End file.
